Korean Zen: Man Gong

Zen Master Man Gong (1872 - 1946) was the leading dharma heir of Zen Master Kyong Ho. His first awakening came while practicing with the kong-an: "The ten thousand dharmas return to the one: Where does the one return to?"

He shared Kyong Ho's focus on bringing Zen to lay men and women, as well as monks and nuns. During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1905 - 1945), Korean monks and nuns were forced to renounce their celibacy and marry in the manner of Japanese Buddhism. However, Man Gong refused to obey the Japanese order and was able to sustain traditional Korean Zen throughout the occupation. Following the end of World War II, he wrote the famous calligraphy, "The Whole World Is A Single Flower."

Man Gong was noted for his ability to cut through students' attachments to name and form, as shown in this dialogue:

A monk once asked Man Gong, "Where is the Buddha's teaching?"

Man Gong replied, "Right in front of you."

The monk then said, "You say, 'Right in front of you,' but I don't see it."

"You make I," answered Man Gong, "so you don't see it."

The monk asked him, "Do you see it, Master?"

Man Gong responded, "If you make I, it's difficult to see it. But if you make you, it's even more difficult to see it."

Whenever we separate the world (into you and I, right and wrong, etc.), we trade the truth of life for a story about experience. Man Gong continually cut away the storytelling, to reveal things as they are. He once wrote the following poem about this:

Holding a bamboo stick, never stop.
Already arrive in front of Bo Duk Cave.
Who is host, who is the guest? They cannot see each other.
Only very close by, the gurgle of the stream.

Man Gong added this commentary to the poem:  "The sound of the stream takes away both host and guest." That's Man Gong's teaching.

Source: Don't Know Mind, by Richard Shrobe

Comments

[Alice]

Thanks Barry. Yes, the gurgle of the stream is always close by, isn't it? But not hearing it, it may just as well be a million miles away. Today, I listen. Perhaps later, just gurgling.

[Barry Briggs]

Hi Alice - Listening is gurgling, gurgling is listening. Everything is present for us, just now. Nothing is every a million miles away!

[Molly Brown]

"The sound of the stream takes away both host and guest."

Wow, Barry. What a moving story/exchange between the monk and Man Gong.

Perhaps that is a little of what I was experiencing when I hiked out of the GC after 2 days in it--more compassion and more love in my heart--maybe the sound of the wind in the canyon took away a little of that separation of me and the rest of the world.

Thanks for sharing this.

Peace,

Molly

[Barry Briggs]

Thank you, Molly, for your comment. In my experience, steady walking of the type you and your husband did in the GC does open the heart/mind in new and sometimes unexpected ways...less separation, more "ah, just this!"

[Uku]

If there there are no host or guest, is there a hotel for them?

Thank you, Barry, marvellous story!

[Barry Briggs]

Hi Uku - Please return the keys when you check out!

Barry